[Resolved] URL string variables

carbonspace

I've got most of my page working but I need to make sure variables that have previously been assigned are being passed thru to the URL. For example if a user clicks on a State, then a City, I want the value for City to be appended to the URL along with the value for the State. Then if they click on a category that will be added as well. Ideally I would like to get the same info into the URL regardless of of the order in which the links are clicked.
Ex: www.mysite.com/index.php?State=Alabama&City=Auburn&Category=Dogs

Can anyone help me out?

Here's my code:
<html>
<head>
<title>Site Title</title>
</head>
<body>
<table>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<a href="<?=$SERVER['PHP_SELF']?>?state=Alabama">Alabama</a> 
<a href="<?=$SERVER['PHP_SELF']?>?state=Alaska">Alaska</a> 
<a href="<?=$SERVER['PHP_SELF']?>?state=Arizona">Arizona</a> 
 
<a href="<?=$SERVER['PHP_SELF']?>?category=Dogs">Dogs</a> 
<a href="<?=$SERVER['PHP_SELF']?>?category=Cats">Cats</a> 
<a href="<?=$SERVER['PHP_SELF']?>?category=Fish">Fish</a> 
</td>

<td valign="top">
<?php
// initialize the variables
$state = !empty($GET['state']) ? $state = $GET['state'] : $state = '';
$city = !empty($GET['city']) ? $city = $GET['city'] : $city = '';
$category = !empty($GET['category']) ? $category = $GET['category'] : $category = '';

// show content based on state selection
switch($state)
{
case "Alabama" :
print 'Alabama ';
include ('alCityLinks.php');
break;
case "Alaska" :
print 'Alaska ';
include ('CityLinks.php');
break;
case "Arizona" :
print 'Arizona ';
include ('CityLinks.php');
break;
default :
break;
}

// show content based on city selection
switch($city)
{
case "Auburn" :
print 'You are at Auburn ';
break;
case "Bessemer" :
print 'You are at Bessemer ';
break;
case "Birmingham" :
print 'You are at Birmingham ';
break;
default :

break;
}

// show content based on category selection
switch($category)
{
case "Dogs" :
print 'You are at Auburn ';
break;
case "Cats" :
print 'You are at Bessemer ';
break;
case "Fish" :
print 'You are at Birmingham ';
break;
default :

break;
}
?>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>

alCityLinks.php
<a href="?city=Auburn">Auburn</a> 
<a href="?city=Bessemer">Bessemer</a> 
<a href="?city=Birmingham">Birmingham</a>

mrhappiness

$params=array();
foreach ($_GET as $key => $value)
  $params[]=$key.'='.$value;
if (count($params)>0)
  $params='?'.implode('&amp;amp;', $params);
else
  $params='';
echo 'Link: '.$params;

hth

carbonspace

Nice! Thanks for the quick reply. That works better. If I can dig in a bit further....How would I get all the variables ($state, $city & $category) to display in the URL if any of them have been clicked. Let say the user clicks a Category first, then a State, then a City. It's clearly possible for a Selection to come in this order - State, Category and then City. I'm looking to display the URL to display in this format in any case:

.../index.php?state=Alabama&city=Auburn&category=Dogs

right now it just shows up as

.../index.php?category=Dogs
or
...index.php?city=Auburn

Thanks alot for your help.

mrhappiness

just try my snippet

every parameter you pass is an entry of $_GET so it is in $params and so gets parsed almost autmotaically with the help of my code

edit:
maybe i just reinvented the wheel 😃
$_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'] contains all of the parameters but not the preceding ?

carbonspace

Thanks for your advice MH. I had to make some other changes but what I'm using is:

$state = "";
$city = "";
if (isset ($GET[state]))
{
$state = "&state=" . $GET[state];
}

if (isset ($GET[city]))
{
$city = "&city=" . $GET[city];
}
?>

then my links looks like this:

<a href="<?=$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']?>?category=Dogs<?=$state?><?=$city?>">Dogs</a>

This pretty much works the way I'm looking for but I could probably fine tune it a bit. Any more advice is always useful. Thanks again.

carbonspace

Thanks for your advice MH. I had to make some other changes but what I'm using is:

$state = "";
$city = "";
if (isset ($GET[state]))
{
$state = "&state=" . $GET[state];
}

if (isset ($GET[city]))
{
$city = "&city=" . $GET[city];
}
?>

then my links looks like this:

<a href="<?=$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']?>?category=Dogs<?=$state?><?=$city?>">Dogs</a>

This pretty much works the way I'm looking for but I could probably fine tune it a bit. Any more advice is always useful. Thanks again.